Speech and Debate has made a triumphant return to Foothill College this year, having plentiful success on the competitive circuit while also setting the groundwork for the return of an institutionally backed team to help build on their successes.
The team is advised by both Foothill College and Owls Speech and Debate Team alumna Anju Vriksha. Vriksha, who recently became a full-time faculty member here at Foothill, is completing another full circle moment in leading the same team she once competed for.
Early success is not a new thing for Foothill Speech and Debate, as even back in the inaugural year of the first edition of the team there was plenty of award winning. “It was pretty eye opening,” former coach and current Foothill Professor Lauren Velasco reflected fondly. “It showed not only what dedication and talent we had at Foothill, but also the potential for the team in the future.”
However, the team in its past form had been dormant for almost 15 years, ever since the difficult decision was made to end the team due to multiple factors. One of the main elements was the State of California ending course repeatability, which restricted students from taking a course multiple times. Repeatability was key in students getting credit for their involvement in the Speech and Debate team.
Despite a herculean effort from both students and Professor Velasco to adapt to the new demands, the repeatability challenge combined with budget issues and other logistical problems eventually forced the program to end its run as a team. There was an effort to continue as a club, but the past designation as a program hindered that effort to operate independently.
Today, the club and the team are running in tandem. As part of the full-time position Professor Vriksha filled, Foothill was seeking a leader to restart the Speech and Debate team as a fully integrated program at the school. In this first year, there was an emphasis on laying the groundwork for future development of the team and how they would operate in meetings, practice, and competing.
The return of organized Speech and Debate after the 15 year hiatus was a case of right time, right place. Isaac Wang, the current President of the Foothill Speech and Debate club, was a founding member of the club when he was a Middle College dual enrollment student. The club and team are technically separate, offering chances for both students who are looking to increase their skills and those looking to compete.
Wang had been involved in Speech and Debate before coming to Foothill, and upon his arrival realized there weren’t any active speech opportunities at the college. “I thought why not go and make them myself,” said Wang.
After some convincing, Shaur Kadiyala joined Wang in the effort to help revive the speech and debate scene.
Kadiyala, now the club Vice President and student coach, is a seasoned debate competitor, having competed in 95 tournaments throughout their career in middle school and at Los Altos High School. They have also continued to mentor the MVLA High School debate team as a coach.
Throughout the winter and spring quarter of last year, there was a struggle with retaining members and getting a core group together to start thinking about competition. By the time there was some momentum around members signing up for tournaments, the competitive season was winding down quickly as most tournaments are scheduled to align with both quarter and semester system schools.
However, this setback didn’t deter their efforts as Wang and Kadiyala, along with a core group of club members, set plans to start the next school year off strong.
Part of those plans included contacting Foothill College President Kristina Walen, herself a former speech and debate competitor and coach at Chico State. Walen then put the club in contact with Professor Vriksha, and the current status of the team began to form.
Within the first weeks of this school year, the club became stronger and continued to gain momentum as well as more support from the Foothill Communication department. This continued into planning around competitions and officially marking the return of Foothill College on the speech and debate circuit.
“Being able to see the growth we’ve had in a single year, going from barely being able to retain a single person to being able to build a team with a ton of people being able to compete,” Kadiyala said. “I think that’s pretty incredible.”
There was always a hope to ramp up the club into becoming a larger organization, yet it was not expected to happen so quickly. Usually it takes three to five years to get a team up and running, according to Wang, yet Foothill has already traveled to three tournaments just this year.
The members of the team are also not just showing up to take part—they are showing up to compete. Most recently, the Owls took home 10 awards as a team at the 2025 NCFA Spring Fling Tournament hosted at Saint Mary’s College.
- Informative Speech – Silver (2nd Place): Ridhi Thapar
- Persuasive Speech – Finalist: Manxin Huang
- Dramatic Interpretation – Bronze: Andrew Wang
- NPDA Parliamentary Debate – Silver: Andrew Wang & Ryann Mejia Gonzales
- Extemporaneous Speaking – Finalists: Garry Lee & Jonah Copeland
- IPDA Individual Debate – Bronze: Jonah Copeland
- IPDA Individual Debate – Gold: Ryann Mejia Gonzales
- NPDA 1st Place Speaker: Ryann Mejia Gonzales (Best speaker in the entire debate category)
This much success so early on in the return of Foothill’s presence on the speech and debate circuit was remarkable, and a testament to the work put forth by the leaders and team members. Due to their absence in the scene in the past years, it’d be easy for Foothill to be viewed as an underdog having to make a name for themselves all over again.
There has also historically been gender disparity in participation, retention, and success in the field of speech and debate as a whole. A 2020 study found that women are over 30% more likely to quit speech and debate than male debaters as well as female-female teams being 17.1% less likely and male-female teams 10% less likely to win a debate round against male-male teams.
These realities made the success of debate team member Ryann Mejia Gonzales even more rewarding. “I was proud to stand up there and be a woman winning in front of majority men, as well as representing Foothill,” she said. “A lot of other teams may have written off Foothill as one of the smaller schools.”
While the success of the team in tournaments is amazing, the ultimate goal of the team is much broader. That goal is to be a resource for students to hone their speech skills and make strides in areas that will undoubtedly impact their lives in the future.
“I’m a lot less concerned about our competition results as I ultimately believe those are largely out of our hands as competitors,” Kadiyala said. “I think seeing the personal growth and personal impact on so many students and specifically seeing people more willing to put themselves out there and people finding a sense of community, all that is what’s so valuable to me.”
Those sentiments are echoed by Professor Vriksha, taking the same inspiring and empowering angle of improvement and progress used in her courses.
“Going forward, [speaking skills] are going to be so important because many people are used to speaking through devices and speaking at a camera.” Vriksha said proudly. “Speaking and connecting with people is harder, and it’s a powerful tool that is our birthright as human beings to become confident. I want to take away this piece of anxiety, as it’s the one thing I can help fix.”
As for the future of the club; it’s bright. Although both Wang and Kadiyala will be transferring from Foothill this fall, the foundation they both helped build will remain. The increase in institutional support from both President Whalen and the Communications Department, as well as returning members are the main components in the future life of this second generation of Foothill Speech and Debate.
If you are looking to be a part of the new era of Speech and Debate here at Foothill, catch one of their meetings before the end of the quarter on Wednesdays from 4:30-5:30 PM in Room 6107 space or join their Discord server and check out their socials here.
